Events

Blank Rome's Philadelphia summer associates and members of the firm's diversity and inclusion committee and BR United and BR Pride affinity groups gathered for a night of food, arts and entertainment at the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival.

The lantern festival takes place in Philadelphia's Franklin Square and features illuminated sculptures and performances.

Additions

Two attorneys joined Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr's white-collar and government litigation practice in the Pittsburgh office, partner Joseph A. Valenti and associate Allison L. Burdette.

Valenti and Burdette both represent entities and individuals during investigation and litigation of white-collar criminal and civil matters, including providing courtroom defense in federal and state courts.

They represent clients who are subject to a search warrant, receive a subpoena from the government, or face indictment by a grand jury.

These matters typically involve compliance with federal and state laws, such as the Bank Secrecy Act, fraud statutes, anti-money-laundering regulations, consumer protection laws, child protection laws and anti-harassment laws, among others.

Valenti also handles cases involving the False Claims Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Valenti and Burdette also handle business clients' internal investigations into activities in their workplaces.

They conduct these investigations both as part of the potential defense of companies facing government investigations and to help clients verify their compliance with government regulations and minimize risks that could lead to noncompliance.

While Burdette also handles matters for energy clients, Valenti provides representation in cases involving free speech, copyrights, trademarks, advertising, cybersecurity, data privacy and commercial litigation.

Both Valenti and Burdette earned their Juris Doctors from Duquesne University School of Law.

*****

Saxton & Stump added Alicia A. Armstrong to the firm's Lancaster office as a paralegal.

Armstrong brings 14 years of experience on intellectual property matters and will support the firm's intellectual property group.

In her role, she provides substantive and organizational support to Saxton & Stump's attorneys with the docketing and maintenance of the team's intellectual property portfolios.

Armstrong has experience with drafting and filing copyright, trademark and patent applications and related documents and correspondence.

Prior to joining Saxton & Stump, Armstrong served as an intellectual property paralegal and docketing manager for a Philadelphia-based intellectual property law firm.

Speakers

Daniel E. Cummins of the Scranton insurance defense firm of Foley, Comerford, & Cummins presented a civil litigation update CLE at the Pennsylvania Defense Institute's annual meeting.

Cummins also presented a Pennsylvania Bar Institute CLE webinar online with attorney Scott Cooper of Schmidt Kramer titled “Gallagher v. GEICO: A Seismic Shift in UM/UIM Litigation.”

Cummins focuses his practice on the defense of auto accident, premises liability and construction and products liability cases.

He also serves as a mediator for these types of cases through Cummins Mediation Services. Cummins also serves as an expert witness in legal malpractice cases.

Cummins is the sole creator and writer of the Tort Talk blog.